aNYone
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- Dec 31, 2012
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Rap About Nothing: Hip Hop Chat Thread
- Thread in 'Music' Thread starter Started by brivera716,
- Start date
- Sep 21, 2008
- 49,029
- 61,330
Top 40 Radio Has a Rap Problem
Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B and Migos make the most popular records in the country, so why aren't they thriving on pop stations the way white rappers do?
This problem is not unique to West. Scan the last six years of Billboard's Pop Songs chart, which tracks pop radio spins, and you'll quickly notice a pattern. Since the beginning of 2012, only one non-white rapper has been able to cross over from mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop (or "urban") radio and crown the chart: Drake, with "One Dance," which features minimal rapping. Nor is it the case that pop radio has mysteriously turned against hip-hop as a whole. During those same six years, white rappers have repeatedly scored pop Number Ones: Macklemore (twice), Eminem, Iggy Azalea (twice), Machine Gun Kelly, G-Eazy (twice) and NF. Aside from Drake, the only non-white rappers to reach Number One in this format in recent years have done it by collaborating with an A-list pop act – as Kendrick Lamar has done as a featured guest for Taylor Swift and Maroon 5 – or by making a record so far from the sound of mainstream hip-hop that rap radio wouldn't touch it (Flo Rida's "My House").
Tom Poleman, iHeartMedia's Chief Programming Officer, describes the Top 40 ethos as "just playing what's hot." Yet even though J. Cole's "Deja Vu," Future's "Mask Off," Lamar's "DNA.", Lil Uzi Vert's "XO Tour Llif3," Lil Pump's "Gucci Gang" and Migos' "MotorSport" were all Top 10 hits on the Hot 100 – which measures total cross-platform consumption, including streaming, sales and radio play – none of them made a dent in Billboard's pop airplay ranking. And while Migos' "Bad and Boujee," Lamar's "Humble." and Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow" were Number One hits on the Hot 100 – objectively the most popular records in the United States – they did not get enough radio play to enter the top 20 on Billboard's Pop Songs chart.
Perhaps it's unreasonable to expect Top 40 radio stations to act as a progressive force in the music industry, but presumably they are interested in making money by playing popular songs. So it's startling that at this moment, when hip-hop is utterly dominant, hits from the non-white rappers who remain at the genre's creative and commercial vanguard are so absent from pop radio's top slots. Intentionally or otherwise, Top 40 radio has seemingly adjusted to the ascendancy of hip-hop by creating an alternate ecosystem in which the rules that govern the rest of the music business do not apply.
The modern system of radio formats dates back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to Eric Weisbard, an associate professor at the University of Alabama and the author of Top 40 Democracy: The Rival Mainstreams of American Music. As radio listening started to migrate from AM to FM, "instead of just having one Top 40 format for all the hits, you started to have several formats representing different kinds of audiences that radio stations wanted to target," he explains. "Radio is deceptive," he adds. "It's not selling music to listeners, it's selling listeners to advertisers."
In the case of Top 40, radio is marketing a very specific niche to those advertisers. "What a programmer of a Top 40 radio station imagines is that the ideal listener is a mom in a car with her daughter," Weisbard says. "That's a stereotype in the industry."
The interplay between radio formats has fluctuated over time, and the racial composition of the singers on Top 40 stations – famous examples include Z-100 in New York, Kiis-FM in L.A. and B96 in Chicago – moves accordingly. "There are moments when Top 40 seems very white," Weisbard says, pointing to the post-disco, pre-Michael Jackson moment in the Eighties as well as the late 2000s era of turbo-club singles. On the flip side, he notes that the pre-Beatles Sixties and the early 2000s were moments when pop radio played multiple records by non-white performers.
Machine Gun Kelly seen at KAABOO 2017 at the Del Mar Racetrack and Fairgrounds in San Diego.Invision/AP/REX Shutterstock
Historically, a programming director's decision to put a record into rotation has depended on her personal preferences and the reactions of both listeners and advertisers. "Sometimes there's a record that's not acceptable due to race reasons," Weisbard says. "We have lots of records like that early in the history of hip-hop."
Even before preferences come into play, though, programmers aren't picking from a hat that contains every possible single: Major-label promotional efforts can have a large impact on the pool of songs that end up on a radio playlist. "If a record's not being promoted [to a certain format], you can pretty much, at this point, count on radio not taking the initiative," says radio business veteran Sean Ross.
This has important ramifications, because major labels have often failed to prioritize promoting rap records to the pop format. Reza Sarrafieh, who spent more than a decade as an urban promotions executive at Interscope Records, says that "every single meeting was always a struggle" for this reason. He remembers feeling, "Why the fukk can't you guys over at Top 40 promotion work with my records that I've got Number One on urban?" "Labels have been too slow to understand the value of rap," he adds. (Several major labels declined or ignored requests to comment on their promotional practice
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/top-40-radio-has-a-rap-problem-630658/
Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B and Migos make the most popular records in the country, so why aren't they thriving on pop stations the way white rappers do?
This problem is not unique to West. Scan the last six years of Billboard's Pop Songs chart, which tracks pop radio spins, and you'll quickly notice a pattern. Since the beginning of 2012, only one non-white rapper has been able to cross over from mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop (or "urban") radio and crown the chart: Drake, with "One Dance," which features minimal rapping. Nor is it the case that pop radio has mysteriously turned against hip-hop as a whole. During those same six years, white rappers have repeatedly scored pop Number Ones: Macklemore (twice), Eminem, Iggy Azalea (twice), Machine Gun Kelly, G-Eazy (twice) and NF. Aside from Drake, the only non-white rappers to reach Number One in this format in recent years have done it by collaborating with an A-list pop act – as Kendrick Lamar has done as a featured guest for Taylor Swift and Maroon 5 – or by making a record so far from the sound of mainstream hip-hop that rap radio wouldn't touch it (Flo Rida's "My House").
Tom Poleman, iHeartMedia's Chief Programming Officer, describes the Top 40 ethos as "just playing what's hot." Yet even though J. Cole's "Deja Vu," Future's "Mask Off," Lamar's "DNA.", Lil Uzi Vert's "XO Tour Llif3," Lil Pump's "Gucci Gang" and Migos' "MotorSport" were all Top 10 hits on the Hot 100 – which measures total cross-platform consumption, including streaming, sales and radio play – none of them made a dent in Billboard's pop airplay ranking. And while Migos' "Bad and Boujee," Lamar's "Humble." and Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow" were Number One hits on the Hot 100 – objectively the most popular records in the United States – they did not get enough radio play to enter the top 20 on Billboard's Pop Songs chart.
Perhaps it's unreasonable to expect Top 40 radio stations to act as a progressive force in the music industry, but presumably they are interested in making money by playing popular songs. So it's startling that at this moment, when hip-hop is utterly dominant, hits from the non-white rappers who remain at the genre's creative and commercial vanguard are so absent from pop radio's top slots. Intentionally or otherwise, Top 40 radio has seemingly adjusted to the ascendancy of hip-hop by creating an alternate ecosystem in which the rules that govern the rest of the music business do not apply.
The modern system of radio formats dates back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to Eric Weisbard, an associate professor at the University of Alabama and the author of Top 40 Democracy: The Rival Mainstreams of American Music. As radio listening started to migrate from AM to FM, "instead of just having one Top 40 format for all the hits, you started to have several formats representing different kinds of audiences that radio stations wanted to target," he explains. "Radio is deceptive," he adds. "It's not selling music to listeners, it's selling listeners to advertisers."
In the case of Top 40, radio is marketing a very specific niche to those advertisers. "What a programmer of a Top 40 radio station imagines is that the ideal listener is a mom in a car with her daughter," Weisbard says. "That's a stereotype in the industry."
The interplay between radio formats has fluctuated over time, and the racial composition of the singers on Top 40 stations – famous examples include Z-100 in New York, Kiis-FM in L.A. and B96 in Chicago – moves accordingly. "There are moments when Top 40 seems very white," Weisbard says, pointing to the post-disco, pre-Michael Jackson moment in the Eighties as well as the late 2000s era of turbo-club singles. On the flip side, he notes that the pre-Beatles Sixties and the early 2000s were moments when pop radio played multiple records by non-white performers.
Machine Gun Kelly seen at KAABOO 2017 at the Del Mar Racetrack and Fairgrounds in San Diego.Invision/AP/REX Shutterstock
Historically, a programming director's decision to put a record into rotation has depended on her personal preferences and the reactions of both listeners and advertisers. "Sometimes there's a record that's not acceptable due to race reasons," Weisbard says. "We have lots of records like that early in the history of hip-hop."
Even before preferences come into play, though, programmers aren't picking from a hat that contains every possible single: Major-label promotional efforts can have a large impact on the pool of songs that end up on a radio playlist. "If a record's not being promoted [to a certain format], you can pretty much, at this point, count on radio not taking the initiative," says radio business veteran Sean Ross.
This has important ramifications, because major labels have often failed to prioritize promoting rap records to the pop format. Reza Sarrafieh, who spent more than a decade as an urban promotions executive at Interscope Records, says that "every single meeting was always a struggle" for this reason. He remembers feeling, "Why the fukk can't you guys over at Top 40 promotion work with my records that I've got Number One on urban?" "Labels have been too slow to understand the value of rap," he adds. (Several major labels declined or ignored requests to comment on their promotional practice
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/top-40-radio-has-a-rap-problem-630658/
- Jun 1, 2011
- 107,071
- 79,480
That’s how Logic and Machine Gun Kelly end up with high charting songs that I’ve never heard in my life.
- Jan 7, 2003
- 13,673
- 11,708
Who... TF... cares....
Stop seeking acceptance from these folks. These cries for attention make dudes look straight stupid in the face
Stop seeking acceptance from these folks. These cries for attention make dudes look straight stupid in the face
- Jan 7, 2003
- 13,673
- 11,708
These the same people who roll they windows up on y’all, when your driving with your music jamming.
Or, got “no loud music” signs in their neighborhoods and apartment complexes. Stop begging man. It irks me. I don’t need to nod my head or headbob with a white or Asian person while I’m jamming my music. I want them to be vexed on the inside.
Or, got “no loud music” signs in their neighborhoods and apartment complexes. Stop begging man. It irks me. I don’t need to nod my head or headbob with a white or Asian person while I’m jamming my music. I want them to be vexed on the inside.
- Jan 5, 2013
- 23,534
- 38,162
Facts.
D
Deleted member 107398
Guest
- Dec 25, 2012
- 1,941
- 1,407
Just about to post this, this is pretty legit. Buddens got to be better hopefully
- Dec 14, 2017
- 2,630
- 2,035
MGK went in
By the way relistening Forever how yall rank each verse? imo its Eminem slightly better Drake's>Wayne>Ye
Drake had that sick hashtag rap
By the way relistening Forever how yall rank each verse? imo its Eminem slightly better Drake's>Wayne>Ye
Drake had that sick hashtag rap
- Jan 5, 2013
- 23,534
- 38,162
MGK came with it.
We have beef fams.
This should be interesting
We have beef fams.
This should be interesting
- Jan 5, 2013
- 23,534
- 38,162
Em > Drake > nails on a chalkboard > Wayne > Ye
- Jan 2, 2010
- 82,815
- 118,372
Em went off something serious on Forever.
- Dec 14, 2017
- 2,630
- 2,035
MGK came with it.
We have beef fams.
This should be interesting
Joe Budden gonna respond too according to his twitter and IG, I think Kamikaze is mediocre but at least we have beef from real MCs again
- Dec 28, 2003
- 22,882
- 29,713
Top 40 Radio Has a Rap Problem
Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B and Migos make the most popular records in the country, so why aren't they thriving on pop stations the way white rappers do?
This problem is not unique to West. Scan the last six years of Billboard's Pop Songs chart, which tracks pop radio spins, and you'll quickly notice a pattern. Since the beginning of 2012, only one non-white rapper has been able to cross over from mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop (or "urban") radio and crown the chart: Drake, with "One Dance," which features minimal rapping. Nor is it the case that pop radio has mysteriously turned against hip-hop as a whole. During those same six years, white rappers have repeatedly scored pop Number Ones: Macklemore (twice), Eminem, Iggy Azalea (twice), Machine Gun Kelly, G-Eazy (twice) and NF. Aside from Drake, the only non-white rappers to reach Number One in this format in recent years have done it by collaborating with an A-list pop act – as Kendrick Lamar has done as a featured guest for Taylor Swift and Maroon 5 – or by making a record so far from the sound of mainstream hip-hop that rap radio wouldn't touch it (Flo Rida's "My House").
Tom Poleman, iHeartMedia's Chief Programming Officer, describes the Top 40 ethos as "just playing what's hot." Yet even though J. Cole's "Deja Vu," Future's "Mask Off," Lamar's "DNA.", Lil Uzi Vert's "XO Tour Llif3," Lil Pump's "Gucci Gang" and Migos' "MotorSport" were all Top 10 hits on the Hot 100 – which measures total cross-platform consumption, including streaming, sales and radio play – none of them made a dent in Billboard's pop airplay ranking. And while Migos' "Bad and Boujee," Lamar's "Humble." and Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow" were Number One hits on the Hot 100 – objectively the most popular records in the United States – they did not get enough radio play to enter the top 20 on Billboard's Pop Songs chart.
Perhaps it's unreasonable to expect Top 40 radio stations to act as a progressive force in the music industry, but presumably they are interested in making money by playing popular songs. So it's startling that at this moment, when hip-hop is utterly dominant, hits from the non-white rappers who remain at the genre's creative and commercial vanguard are so absent from pop radio's top slots. Intentionally or otherwise, Top 40 radio has seemingly adjusted to the ascendancy of hip-hop by creating an alternate ecosystem in which the rules that govern the rest of the music business do not apply.
The modern system of radio formats dates back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to Eric Weisbard, an associate professor at the University of Alabama and the author of Top 40 Democracy: The Rival Mainstreams of American Music. As radio listening started to migrate from AM to FM, "instead of just having one Top 40 format for all the hits, you started to have several formats representing different kinds of audiences that radio stations wanted to target," he explains. "Radio is deceptive," he adds. "It's not selling music to listeners, it's selling listeners to advertisers."
In the case of Top 40, radio is marketing a very specific niche to those advertisers. "What a programmer of a Top 40 radio station imagines is that the ideal listener is a mom in a car with her daughter," Weisbard says. "That's a stereotype in the industry."
The interplay between radio formats has fluctuated over time, and the racial composition of the singers on Top 40 stations – famous examples include Z-100 in New York, Kiis-FM in L.A. and B96 in Chicago – moves accordingly. "There are moments when Top 40 seems very white," Weisbard says, pointing to the post-disco, pre-Michael Jackson moment in the Eighties as well as the late 2000s era of turbo-club singles. On the flip side, he notes that the pre-Beatles Sixties and the early 2000s were moments when pop radio played multiple records by non-white performers.
Machine Gun Kelly seen at KAABOO 2017 at the Del Mar Racetrack and Fairgrounds in San Diego.Invision/AP/REX Shutterstock
Historically, a programming director's decision to put a record into rotation has depended on her personal preferences and the reactions of both listeners and advertisers. "Sometimes there's a record that's not acceptable due to race reasons," Weisbard says. "We have lots of records like that early in the history of hip-hop."
Even before preferences come into play, though, programmers aren't picking from a hat that contains every possible single: Major-label promotional efforts can have a large impact on the pool of songs that end up on a radio playlist. "If a record's not being promoted [to a certain format], you can pretty much, at this point, count on radio not taking the initiative," says radio business veteran Sean Ross.
This has important ramifications, because major labels have often failed to prioritize promoting rap records to the pop format. Reza Sarrafieh, who spent more than a decade as an urban promotions executive at Interscope Records, says that "every single meeting was always a struggle" for this reason. He remembers feeling, "Why the fukk can't you guys over at Top 40 promotion work with my records that I've got Number One on urban?" "Labels have been too slow to understand the value of rap," he adds. (Several major labels declined or ignored requests to comment on their promotional practice
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/top-40-radio-has-a-rap-problem-630658/
I’ve had this conversation with quite a few people over the last few months.
Top40 used to play the best of the best. Best Alternative record, best Rap record etc.
But in this day and age they’ve seemingly decided that the format has more of its own sound. And the format is suffering because of it.
When Bodak Yellow is a #1 Hot 100 record and it’s not on the pop chart or barely scraping the bottom of it, there’s a disconnect.
- Jul 30, 2017
- 9,760
- 15,916
Wooooo MGK just took a mean **** on Eminem lol
HOU$TON
formerly convertibleburt
- Apr 14, 2016
- 13,513
- 26,388
- Dec 14, 2017
- 2,630
- 2,035
I think Drake's verse on Forever was underrated tho
- Sep 21, 2008
- 49,029
- 61,330
Lazy take. **** has nothing to do with acceptance or any of that other mumbo jumbo, not sure why you default to that mindset in the first place. This is all about them making a poor bubblegum version of something WE created and profiting from it while shutting doors in our faces. People really dont understand or realize how deep this vulture **** stretches and how much it cheapens this culture we call hip hop. We don't want acceptance we just want the game to not be rigged. The blog boys, radio, media, the internet, etc. are all playing chess and we out here playing checkers
- Jan 5, 2013
- 23,534
- 38,162
Definitely want to hear some good records from all parties involved. Especially Joe. I love that ****** are naming names and calling people out. Em is a legend and he opened himself up to a back and forth with MGK and Magic. That’s dope in and of itself. This is gonna be an interesting 2 weeks.
- Sep 21, 2008
- 49,029
- 61,330
- Jan 5, 2013
- 23,534
- 38,162
This ***** from Florida talking about du rag sauce. 
- Aug 22, 2012
- 14,261
- 21,115
This portion could be the start of a very good conversation about Hip-Hop. Exactly how does "drip" work? When was it able to be used as a substitute for ability?
- Dec 25, 2003
- 43,238
- 28,453
Well damn.
This has been a busy *** year.
This has been a busy *** year.
facts , son rock a durag but got no waves what type of **** is thatThis ***** from Florida talking about du rag sauce.
- Mar 24, 2001
- 44,833
- 66,536
It's not a substitute for ability..it's an ability all in itself. And it's always been a big part of the essence of hip hop since rapper's delight. There's no culture without it. There's chicken and then there's well seasoned chicken
